1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of display devices, and more specifically, to a method and apparatus for monitoring and/or shutting down a power line contained therein.
2. Background Information
A monitor typically includes a power supply that delivers a plurality of direct current (xe2x80x9cDCxe2x80x9d) voltages to various circuits within the monitor. These DC voltages range from a high voltage (e.g., 180 volts) to a lower voltage (e.g., 5 volts). One of the lower DC voltages is referred to as the B+ power line, which typically provides power to various low voltage circuits contained within the monitor. To ensure safety within a monitor, a fuse is placed in series with the low B+ power line for providing overcurrent protection due to line shortages and the like. The monitor may also include other hardware circuitry for monitoring the low B+ power line for line shortages. However, this type of circuitry is expensive, unreliable, difficult to change during the design process, and difficult to recover from.
Accordingly, there is a need in the technology for a method and apparatus for overcoming the aforementioned drawbacks.
The present invention is a method and apparatus for monitoring and/or shutting down a power line in, for example, a display device. In one embodiment, a method comprises converting a voltage on a power line to a digital value, comparing the digital value with a predetermined value, and shutting down a power supply if the digital value is below the predetermined value for a predetermined amount of time.